Employment outlook broadly steady under latest BSP survey

Local firms anticipate employment opportunities to remain steady, albeit at a slightly lower level in the April-to-June period, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.

At the recently concluded Business Expectation Survey (BES), the employment outlook index remained positive in the second quarter, indicating that the number of optimists outnumber the ranks of pessimists in terms of their view in job opportunities.

In particular, the employment outlook index for the next quarter hit 23.3 percent. This was slightly lower compared to the 23.6 percent posted in the first three months of the year.

The BSP said the positive employment outlook indicates “sustained favorable economic conditions” in the country going forward.

Across sectors, the firms posting improved overall confidence in employment include the services and construction industries.

However, the wholesale and retail trade sector showed declines in confidence for the coming quarter this year.

Meanwhile, the percentage of local businesses expecting to expand in the second quarter of the year increased. This, according to the BSP, helped validate expectations of sustained growth for the country down the line.

The index of firms with expansion plans in the second quarter this year increased to 32.9 percent from the 30.5 percent in the previous quarter.

“Across subsectors, firms in mining and quarrying recorded the strongest expansion plans, followed by those in the electricity, gas and water, agriculture, fishery and forestry and manufacturing subsectors,” the central bank said.

The disconnect between lower expectations of job opportunities and higher expectations for expansion means that local firms expect to expand by increasing capital rather than by higher production and infrastructure buildup for the period, BSP officials explained.

The BES is a quarterly survey conducted by the central bank to gauge the business sentiment of firms across the country. –Bianca Cuaresma, Businessmirror